


December 2nd: Chinese

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: M/M, ProfilersForChristmas2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-08-29 21:50:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8506807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Finding each other.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [ProfilersForChristmas2016](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/ProfilersForChristmas2016) collection. 



Hotch sat and stared at the little Christmas tree on the table by the window.  It was the only decoration up in the entire apartment.  He didn’t want to think too hard about what that said about him; that the only thing he could manage for his four-year-old son was a two-foot-tall tree and a couple dozen cheap ornaments.  At least Jack was young enough not to be aware of how much his dad had failed.

Jessica had taken pity on Hotch’s depressed state of mind and had made plans to have the boy at her place for Christmas Eve and all of Christmas Day, inviting Aaron along as well.  Hotch wasn’t sure what would have happened to Christmas without his sister-in-law.  She’d picked up the young boy hours ago to allow Hotch to finish last minute Christmas things.  He was pretty sure she knew he’d failed in the presents and planning departments and this was a final opportunity to fix yet another screw up where his family was concerned.

He rested his head back on the couch and sighed.  He’d never spent a Christmas Eve alone.  Ever.  But here he was, alone; with a third glass of scotch to keep him warm.  Once the glass was empty, Hotch decided he probably shouldn’t have this pity party on an empty stomach, so he stumbled to the kitchen.  Apparently, failure to buy basic groceries could now be added to him list of screw-ups.

Hotch fumbled with his coat, zipping it to his chin, and headed out to walk to the nearest place he could find for food.  The frigid air bit at his nose and ears, blowing his hair around as he shoved his hands deep into his coat pockets.  Well, maybe the chill would help him sober up and start thinking clearly.

==

Spencer sat in his apartment.  He would have thought he’d be used to this by now.  Everyone on the team had family but him.  Well, he had his mom, but the holidays were difficult for her and visiting often left him more upset than before he’d arrivid.  When the walls started to feel like they were closing in, Reid grabbed his jacket and scarf and bolted out into the icy night, determined to find somewhere better than his lonely apartment.

==

He was unsure how long he’d walked when he came upon a single lit-up store front.  He stopped and stared inside, “Chinese.  How stereotypical.”  He looked around in the darkness.  He didn’t really want to go back to his place so he chose to go inside.

“How many?”

“Just one.”  He tried for a smile as the hostess gave him a sad look.

“This way.”  She led him to a small two seater table in the corner and left him with a menu.  He glanced it over quickly and set it aside.  The door dinged again, but Spencer didn’t bother looking up.

==

Hotch had been walking about thirty minutes when he came upon the restaurant in the dark.  Their window displays promised him warm food and alcohol and he didn’t really feel like spending all night staring at his wimpy tree.  He pushed the door open, startling when it chimed over his head.  He smiled at the hostess and glanced around as he waited for her to seat him.  A figure caught his eye in the far corner, “Excuse me.”  He motioned to the woman, “Could I sit with him?”

She looked up at the tall man and over at the man in the corner, “If you wish.”  She handed him his menu.

Hotch carefully crossed the small room and stopped by the table, “Mind if I join you?”

Spencer looked up, startled, “Hotch?  What are you doing here?”

“I was out walking.”

“Where’s Jack?”  His brow wrinkled in confusion.

“Jessica took him.”  He waited for Reid to gesture to the other chair before sitting and continuing, “I didn’t get anything really together for him and she’s saving the day.  I was all alone at home and needed to get out.”

“Me too.”

Hotch studied the younger man across from him.  “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“That, apparently, none of us think about including you in anything for the holidays.”  He chewed his bottom lip.

Spencer took a deep breath, “The others have in the past, I usually turned them down.  They stopped asking after a while.”  They let the topic lapse when the waitress stopped to take their orders.

After the food had arrived, Hotch asked, “You never talk about seeing anyone with the others.”

Reid shrugged.

Stabbing a piece of pork, he pressed on, “All this time and there’s never been a person you’ve been interested in?”

“Person?” 

Hotch reddened slightly, “I didn’t want to be presumptuous, but I thought I caught you checking out a guy on a case before.”

Spencer nodded, “Yeah, I’m gay.  No one really knows, well, Garcia knows.  She knows everything.”

He chuckled, “So then, has there been someone?”

He shrugged again.

Hotch took a drink of his wine, certain he probably should have gone with water, but not caring.  “I married Haley because it was what I was supposed to do.  I was expected to find a nice girl and marry her and have a big family.  Everything picture perfect.”

“You loved Haley.  You still do.”  He insisted.

“Sure, I loved her.  But I don’t think I was ever _in love with_ her.  At the same time I met Haley, I also met Sam.  Sam happened to then also enroll at the same college as I did the following year and we managed to get to share a dorm room.”  He let it sink in a minute.  “Sam even came to Haley and I’s wedding and…Until I got accepted to the BAU, Sam made frequent visits to us on the west coast.”

“Haley was okay with that?”

“She said she was.  She got all the status of being married to a Federal Prosecutor and it wasn’t like I was coming home drunk and abusing her.  I took her to all the parties and social events and then once in a while I spent a weekend having ‘guy time’ away.  Instead of it being at a casino or sporting event, I was always with Sam.”

“What changed?”

Hotch shrugged.  “She wanted Jack.  That put a different kind of strain on things because that aspect of our marriage had always been a little…lacking.  And then I met someone I truly found myself having feelings for and it didn’t take her long to catch on that I really loved this person.”

“She caught you together?”

“No.”  He shook his head, “I wish it’d been that easy.  I called his name out in bed.  And not in my sleep.”  Hotch emphasizes his last statement by pointing with his fork.

Reid’s brows shot up to his hairline.

“Things really went south after that.  Any time we had sex, she accused me of pretending I was with that other person.  There was a case right before we split, I came home in the early hours of the morning and she was asleep.  I was worked up and needed to get everything out of my system so I took a shower and took care of what I needed to.”  Hotch blushed a bit again, “She walked in to greet me just in time for the final act as it were and she had all sorts of accusations about why I was in the shower with my hand instead of in bed with her.”

Reid cleared his throat.  “I’ve never told the person I’m interest in that I’m interested.  Garcia thinks I should just get it over with and let the chips fall where they may.”

“She knows who you like?”

He nodded, “She umm, apparently figured it out when I spent the night at her place once.  I was talking in my sleep.  She’s been bugging me for a couple years about it.”

“Well, I think she’s right.  Just get it out there and let what happens, happen.  You never know.”

Spencer stared into his boss’s face, studying the older man.  H wasn’t sure what to say next, how to prevent this from being weird, so he blurted out, “It’s you.”

“Me?”

He dropped his head into his hands, “I’m sorry.”  A hand on his chin pulled his face up.

“Don’t be sorry.”

“Why not?”

“Because Haley had known for years I love you.  She was willing to put it into words when I was still afraid to.”

“You love me?”

“I’ve been in love with you since like six months after you joined the team.”

They sat frozen in silence for several minutes before Reid asked, “So where do we go from here?”

Hotch pulled back and looked around the nearly empty restaurant, “We should start with a real first date.”

“Why?  This is perfect.  This is entirely us.  At a random Chinese place on Christmas Eve.  It’s how we see each other most often and it’ll probably be how we have many dates.”

“Well, in that case, will you come with me tomorrow to see Jack open presents?”

Spencer smiled, “I would love to.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Jack is spending the holiday with Jessica and the Brooks family and Aaron finds himself alone. Getting out of the house, he finds and all night Chinese Restaurant that is still open on Christmas Eve 
> 
> Spencer finds himself alone for the holidays and ends up at the same restaurant. The two of them spend the meal together confessing their feelings.


End file.
